Taming and Training
by RenaRoo
Summary: After seeing Barbara domesticating a few stray cats, Cassandra comes up with a delicious idea.


ephemeraltea prompted: Cass "domesticating" various friends and family for her living and cuddling habits.

This is such a beautiful prompt I wish I could kiss it 3

Batman and related properties © DC Comics  
story © RenaRoo

 **Taming and Training**

They had been at the grocery store that afternoon, practicing how to count with money, to read price tags, and generally exhausting Cassandra far more than all the training exercises and midnight patrols in the world could manage to do in double the amount of time. By the end Barbara had taken to mercy and generously was reading the brand names for Cass as they went over the self-checkout scanner.

It was one of the ways Barbara pushed them out into the "real world" during the day - these chores that Cass saw no real point in, though she _did_ appreciate being able to pick out the chips she liked that Barbara often refused to buy without her.

She was already eating from the bag as they carried the groceries to the back alley of the clock tower and headed toward the lift. Cass paused and chewed thoughtfully in her right cheek pocket as two cats, seemingly from nowhere, leaped to the lids of the garbage bins and began meowing.

That was unusual, at least by Batgirl's estimates.

"Oh!" Barbara spoke up, smiling softly before reaching into one of the bags. "I almost forgot."

Raising a brow, Cass watched while shoving in the next handful of chips into her mouth.

Her mentor produced a small can of something - Cass narrowed her eyes, focused on the curvy lettering, her _least_ favorite kind, and slowly deciphered "C"...?..."i"..."c"... - before Babs popped it open and released a familiar smell.

"Chicken?" Cass questioned.

The cats meowed louder and louder.

"Yup," Barbara answered before setting the can on the lid between the two alley cats. "These guys have been hanging out back here since the No Man's Land crisis. I started feeding them a few weeks ago and look -" she reached forward as they ate, and though the cats simultaneously ducked at the motion, they continued fiercely eating from their canned food. Barbara stroked them, and by the end one even leaned into her hand. It made the redhead look impeccably satisfied. "Looks like they're on their ways to domesticated."

Cassandra blinked and ate another handful of chips. "What's that mean?"

Barbara looked at her before laughing a bit. "Sometimes you feed animals that don't have anything to do with humans and slowly, by being good to them, and filling their stomachs, you build a trust. You make them used to people and make friends with them that way." She raised her brows with that knowing smirk she loved to use so much. "You can do the same with people, too, sometimes."

Snorting, Cass shoved her chips under her arm. "You keep _people_... with... _food?"_ she asked, a little critical.

"More or less," Barbara said, folding her arms. "Or, you know, just get them to go to the grocery store every now and then to get the worst chips on the planet."

Blinking, Cass looked to her arm then back to Barbara. " _Me?"_

"Food is a powerful weapon, Cassie," Babs responded jokingly as she headed toward the back door. "Don't underestimate its keeping power."

Cassandra scowled, puffing out her bottom lip before following the original Batgirl. Then she shoved another handful of chips into her mouth to think on the new information.

* * *

There was a bit of time before Cass thought of the "power of food" again.

She no longer lived in the clocktower with Barbara, but rather had her own cave deep beneath the city. Her own _Batgirl Cave_. She liked it.

But... it was more than a little bit lonely.

She was practicing, not for herself but for Stephanie, sparring with her new found apprentice, when that familiar tune played from Stephanie's gym bag.

It made the blonde flinch, she had almost looked back toward her phone but thought better of it. It was still a second she came to regret, however, as Cass used it to easily hold her wrist and flip her back onto the mats.

"Hoof," Steph whistled as she laid out, staring into the dojo ceiling like it held the meaning of the universe.

Cass couldn't help it, everything about Stephanie made her smile.

She held out her hand and Stephanie easily accepted it, pulling herself up with Cass' help. The Spoiler tightened her ponytail and achingly limped toward the bench with her bag, a happy skip in her step regardless of losing once again.

"Man, eight thirty already?" Steph whined. "Man, mom's going to be angry."

Blinking at Stephanie, Cass watched as Stephanie whistled and gathered her belongings, sliding them into the gym bag. She stopped just as she grabbed her towel and sloppily rubbed her face down with it.

For some reason, it made Cass' chest fill with panic. Steph was leaving again.

"Wait!" Cass spat out, surprising even herself.

It made Stephanie whip around, blinking owlishly. "Huh?" she asked, graceful as ever.

"Have... dinner?" Cass asked, motioning toward the kitchen. "It's late. Cheaper to eat here than... on the way home. Right?"

Steph snorted. "Cass, all you own is chips and soda," she reminded Cass, putting her hand on her hip.

" _And_ cereal," Cass defended with a sniff, crossing her arms. "So. Dinner?"

Laughing, Stephanie put her bag down and approached Cass, looping an arm around her friend. "Cass, tell you what, I will gladly eat dinner with you if, from now on, you let me teach you how to cook _real_ food."

Cass smiled, following Steph as they strolled into her kitchen. "I like that," she said firmly. "A lot."

* * *

In Blüdhaven there is war and crime of a different variety than that of Gotham's streets.

There's a certain loneliness to it all that Cass never realized was so far from her thoughts in Gotham - in Gotham there was Alfred and Bruce and Barbara and Tim and Dick and Steph-

Thinking of Stephanie still hurt. She liked to think that was why she stayed so far away from others in the 'Haven, though Dick and Tim were around to be found.

But, sometimes, the loneliness was too much - especially in her large vacant house and seemingly endless tunnels from the cave.

So she made an excuse for Tim and Dick to come by.

By the third bowl of spaghetti, Cassandra was finally willing to believe Tim's word that he enjoyed her cooking.

Dick laughed, even in his weary looking face it seemed to real.

"You're going to regret this, Cass," Dick joked, leaning on his crutches more than he should.

Cass blinked, a little surprised by the comment. She reached for some more sauce. "Why?" she asked genuinely.

"Because once you've fed Tim, you can't get rid of Tim, believe me," Dick laughed, lightly elbowing their younger brother.

Tim looked up, a mouthful of noodles still hanging from his mouth. He slurped around them and mumbled, "Hey!" at the prodding.

Cass laughed and reached another garlic bread toward Dick which he readily accepted. She smiled at them. "Maybe... _that's_ the idea," she hummed before taking a bit herself.

Meals were much better with company.

* * *

The flight from Hong Kong had taken a lot out of her, as it usually did. Having to stay up twenty hours after landing in order to finish up the case she tracked back from the Atlantic trading post didn't help.

It was already well past noon when she finally completed her mission upon waking up in Wayne Manor.

Baking wasn't her _favorite_ way to make food, but many trials with Dick and Tim had convinced her it was really the only way to make cookies.

And so she did, laying them in wait in Bruce's office.

He got home and, like the good detective he was, immediately investigated the aroma coming from his office. Cassandra did her best to not look _too_ pleased at his surprised expression.

"You... made me cookies?" he asked, a little baffled.

"Not my best," she admitted with a shrug. She then gave a knowing smile. "Like sugar cookies?"

"They're my favorite, actually," he said, approaching and grabbing the first one. "Not poisoned?" he joked.

"Not today," she laughed. "Tomorrow. Maybe."

"I wouldn't put it past you," he said around his cookie, making an appreciative noise around them before swallowing. "Take a page out of Alfred's book and knock me out."

" _That's_ a, uh, thought," she said, jabbing a small punch to his shoulder.

"First sugar, now you're giving me some spice," Bruce laughed, over dramatically rubbing his shoulder. "I'm getting the full Cass treatment today." He paused thoughtfully, tilted his head. "Cassandra?"

"Hm?" she responded back, sliding onto his desk and taking a cookie for herself.

"How would you like a father-daughter dinner tonight?" he asked. "Just the two of us? It's been a while since we did something like that."

"More like... since _ever_ did that," Cass reminded him.

"Do you want to?" he asked.

Cass rolled back her eyes, thought on it as she chewed on her cookie. She then looked back. "You trying to... domesticate me?"

"To what?" he asked, face full of bafflement.

"Try to keep me? Like a... stray cat?" she asked.

"Yes," he said without hesitation, that jovial spark in his smile.

"Okay then," Cass laughed back. "Let's go!"


End file.
